Our reviewer’s favourite 2012 kidlit.
Of all the habits that I’ve passed down to my kids, reading is easily the one I feel the least guilt over.
Kids’ books take up a significant amount of real estate on our shelves at home, and we’ve always been inveterate library-goers. But 2012 marked the first time I made an effort to pay attention to the world of brand-new picture books, too.
So I thought I’d report back on which titles kept us most occupied this year, in no particular order.
And I brought in my sixyear-old daughter Bridget for her perspective, too, since, as she puts it, “Adults like different jokes than kids. You might like jokes about World War II, for instance. And I like jokes about a silly witch.”
Too true, Bridget. Too true. Melanie Watt, Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Christmas (Kids Can Press)
Montreal’s Watt went all out in the latest adventure of her overly cautious rodent, which tips the scales at eight holidaythemed chapters.
It’s full of the usual charming maps, lists and charts, and it may even improve your own holiday traditions in the process.
Sample reasons to avoid tinsel: “You can get tangled up,” “Too much sparkle can be blinding,” “They will attract a disco crowd.”
Bridget’s review: “This is one of my favourites (of the year). I like this book — it’s kind of like a chapter book. I like that it’s about Christmas, especially because I read it around Christmas. But I couldn’t consider it my favourite Scaredy Squirrel, because I haven’t read all of them.” Astrid Lindgren, Ingrid Vang Nyman, and Tiina Nunnally (translator), Pippi Moves In (Enfant)
Like Hayao Miyazaki movies, or songs by the Magnetic Fields, I’m treating Pippi Moves In as a welcome horizon-broadener.
It is important to show kids that the formulas of many children’s books are not the world. And these old Pippi Longstocking comic strips, printed in Sweden in the ’50s but never before translated into English, fit that bill perfectly: they’ve got an exotic but infectious sense of humour, vivid illustrations, and — bonus — a confident female lead who has zero interest in becoming a princess.
Bridget’s review: “This is very silly. But I like it. I also think this book is one of my favourites, because Pippi has her own way of doing things. She takes care of herself. No one’s there to supervise her. For example, she plays tag with the police.” Jon Klassen, This Is Not My Hat (Candlewick Press)
Now this one was divisive. An undersea sequel to the delightful I Want My Hat Back, Jon Klassen’s This Is Not My Hat follows a little fish who’s on the run with the stolen hat of a sleeping big fish.
The minimal narration is clever, and the Ontario-born Klassen’s textured, paperlike illustrations are just gorgeous, but my partner found the ending — where the little fish’s refrain of “Nobody will ever find me” takes on a whole new meaning — too off-putting and dark for really young children. I couldn’t disagree more. It’s great.
Bridget’s review: “I don’t like this book. But my younger brother likes it. He’s one year old.” Oliver Jeffers, This Moose Belongs to Me (HarperCollins)
Jeffers, a perennial favourite around our house, had two new books on the market in 2012. But skip the surprisingly derivative The Hueys in the New Jumper and instead go for this one, a tale of love and pets, told via the story of a moose that likes to wander. Worth it for Jeffers’s stunning background landscapes alone.
Bridget’s review: “I haven’t looked at it that much. I don’t like it as much as (Jeffers’s) The Great Paper Caper. That one is a bit more funny.” Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri, Dragons Love Tacos (Dial Books)
This young, New York-based duo also had two books out this year, and Those Darn Squirrels Fly South is a fine addition to that franchise. But it’s their new original, Dragons Love Tacos, that won Bridget and me over by the time we’d even heard the title.
Author Rubin in particular has figured out a key element of all great children’s literature: If you’re going to say something twice, you might as well say it 40 times. By book’s end, the word “tacos” loses all meaning.
Bridget’s review: “Another one of my favourites — in fact it’s my most favourite. I like how they’re allergic to spicy salsa.
“I like how at the front it says what you need to plan a party for dragons. I think it’s very funny.”
Next week: my favourite (adult) books of 2012.